This here is a spur of the moment kind of dinner. I had little fresh, marinated mozzarella balls in the fridge, as well as flat bread and spinach and basil. Add some cherry tomatoes, red onion and olives and you have yourself a Pesto & Mozzarella pizza (or 4 of them, as the mini-pizza case may be). This combination can also easily be used as the toppings for a large pizza as well, which I think I really, really want to try sometime soon, as this was fabulously good.
Another nice thing about this meal (and almost all of the vegetarian dishes that I’m posting about this week) is the stealthy use of spinach. It’s so good for you and so easy to slip into things. For a pesto, use 1/4 – 1/2 spinach and 1/2 – 3/4 basil. Use this baasil/spinach pesto on pasta too. Sneaky!
Individual Pesto & Mozzarella Pizzas
4 pieces of flat bread
1 big handful of baby spinach leaves
1 slightly smaller handful of basil leaves
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 olive oil
10-12 small, marinated mozzarella balls, rinsed of extra oil and cut in half
4-5 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/5 of a red onion, sliced into thin rings, then halved
10 black olives (kalamata or nicoise), pitted and chopped
dash of red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Make your pesto by adding the spinach, basil, walnuts, Parmesan and garlic. Give a few pulses until everything is minced up a bit and then stream in the olive oil until it is a pesto consistency. Taste and as salt and pepper as needed.
I wanted the flat bread to not get too soggy so I gave it a quick toast before adding any toppings. Just 3-5 minutes at 450 degrees should give it a little color.
Spread pesto on each piece of bread and add some of the mozzarella halves.
I arranged it like this until I remembered that I also had to leave room for the tomatoes. So, I took a few of the mozzarella halves off and replaced them with the healthy topping. Of course, I think just the cheese and pesto would have been very good too but there’s a time and a place for clogging your arteries and this isn’t it.
The next step in the pizza creation is the artful arranging of some red onion pieces and a delicate sprinkle of olives. Give the pizzas each a dash of red pepper flakes if desired and call it a masterpiece.
Pop your stunning pizzas in the oven at 450 for about 4-6 minutes or until the cheese is all bubbly. Let cool for about a minute and then cut each one into four pieces. Mmmmm…
Serve with a green salad for a full meal or hell — just eat two.
Tomorrow: a curried lentil soup. No cheese! Gasp!